BOMBING WAS ‘VERY WICKED’
Caring Queen speaks out as she comforts terror victims
THE Queen comforted young survivors of the Manchester bombing yesterday and condemned the “very wicked” attack that killed 22 and left 119 wounded.
She spoke to three teenage victims and thanked medical staff who worked through the night in the aftermath of the atrocity.
“The awful thing was that everyone was so young. The age of them,” she told one staff member.
The Queen also spoke of the city’s amazing spirit and how the community had come together.
Tight security surrounded the unannounced visit to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital yesterday
morning. It came less than half an hour after the nation was at a standstill for the minute’s silence in honour of the victims of the carnage at the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on Monday night.
Police, MI5 and the SAS are locked in a race against time to track down suicide bomber Salman Abedi’s network of associates.
The threat to Britain, home to around 3,000 extremists, remains “critical” – meaning more attacks may be imminent.
Armed police will travel on trains outside London for the first time due to the heightened terror threat.
Hospitals across Britain were warned yesterday to ensure their surgical teams can cope over the Bank Holiday weekend when staff levels are usually lower. NHS England has told 27 major trauma centres to be ready in case of multiple casualties.
Eight suspects remained in custody last night including Abedi’s 23-year-old brother Ismail.
Hotbed
Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “I want to reassure people that the arrests we have made are significant. Initial searches of premises have revealed items that we believe are very important to the investigation.”
Police believe 22-year-old fanatic Abedi travelled to Dusseldorf in Germany four days before the attack.
They are still trying to discover the British-born Muslim’s contacts in the city – known as a hotbed of radical Islam.
Detectives are still working to identify potential bomb makers. But it is Abedi who assembled the lethal device following instruction at a training camp, possibly in Libya.
The Queen spoke to survivors and scores of hospital staff, shaking hands and sharing words of comfort and appreciation.
At the bedside of 14-yearold Evie Mills, the 91-year-old monarch said: “It’s dreadful, very wicked, to target that sort of thing.”
Evie, from Harrogate, said she had got the concert tickets as a birthday present.
The Queen described Grande as a “very good singer” and a “rather remarkable girl”. She added: “She sounds very, very good.” To Evie’s parents, the Queen said that “everyone is united” following the attack.
Palace officials said the Queen had wanted to show her support for the victims and those who treated and helped them.
They had waited for the first opportunity to arrange a royal visit so that it did not distract staff treating critically injured patients. Twelve children under 16 were taken to the hospital by ambulance.
The Queen met Millie Robson, 15, from County Durham, who was wearing an Ariana Grande T-shirt.
She asked Millie, who suffered leg injuries, if she had enjoyed the concert before the attack, prompting the teenager to reveal she had won two VIP passes and met
the star backstage. Her Majesty described the atrocity as “very alarming” and wished Millie a speedy recovery.
“It’s not something you expect at all,” the Queen said to Millie’s father David Robson, who had been waiting for her at the exit of the arena.
Millie, along with her friend Laura, had just spotted him when the bomb was detonated. “I was in the foyer,” she said. “I was walking out to meet my dad because he was picking me and my friend up from the concert – and then it just went off behind me.
“I remember the explosion in my ears. They were ringing for ages. People were screaming.” She described how her father rushed to her aid and worked to stop the bleeding from the shrapnel holes in her legs. Millie, who was clutching a souvenir from the gig, said: “My dad ran over to me and tied jumpers and stuff around the two main wounds on my leg.
“He picked me up and we ran outside. A lot of paramedics and strangers were helping us.” Mr Robson, 54, described seeing his daughter waving at him as he stood at the top of a set of stairs with partner Jean Forster.
Sitting at his daughter’s bedside, he said: “The next thing was this boom. It was surreal, it was just quiet. I saw Millie at the bottom of the stairs and I ran down to pick her up. Jean ran down to pick Laura up.”
Amy Barlow, 12, of Helmshore, Lancashire, also met the Queen but 12-year-old Emily Murrell, of Billington, missed the visit because she was having surgery.
Her mother Ruth, who was also hit by shrapnel and is still recovering in hospital, said her daughter would be incredibly disappointed.
Professor Bob Pearson, medical director of the NHS trust, said 18 adults and 14 children were still in hospital, including five adults and five children who were “critical”.
IN TIMES of trouble a nation looks to its leaders. Yesterday, as she went to see the poor stricken children and heroic NHS staff at the Manchester Children’s Hospital, the Queen did her country proud. Her words about the “very wicked” attack echo how we all feel. When she spoke with those children and their families she was delivering not only her best wishes but those of us all.
There is no doubt the Queen has been deeply affected by this tragedy and yet she remains the epitome of the British stiff upper lip. Having a monarch who has witnessed so many of the darkest moments in her country’s history and yet seen her people triumph against all the odds time and again is deeply reassuring. Her very presence serves as a reminder that though we are hurting now, we will never be broken.
As we move forward we must learn the lessons from this attack. It would be wrong to heap undue blame on the security services. It is impossible for them to track every suspicious character.
Nevertheless questions have to be asked about why Salman Abedi was not being monitored even though people had raised concerns and he had been thrown out of his mosque.
This is all part of fighting back against the terrorist threat. As members of Her Majesty’s generation would tell you, we have faced down far worse foes in the past.